Two nights in a Cuzco hospital

(Written 2-25-08)


I’m writing this post from my bed at the hospital with an IV hooked into my left hand (a first time experience for me!). They are keeping me here overnight, just to be safe, because after running some tests they found salmonella and a parasite at its beginning stages. I had the chills and a terrible fever the last couple of nights, but I slept all day yesterday and with the IV I feel much better… plus I haven’t watched TV for three weeks and they have cable in the hospital!


I am very fortunate because I have insurance that can afford this kind of care, and I know that I’m also receiving preferential treatment because my insurance is very good. When I arrived at the clinic, I was pushed ahead of other families to have my x-rays taken and my blood drawn. I have a large room upstairs with two beds, my own bathroom and a beautiful view, while downstairs the people are sleeping side by side. If you don’t have insurance, they don’t have to care for you and people have died waiting.

Outside my window the mountains are mostly occluded by the thick fog this morning...kind of fitting for the mood I started with =), but what’s more interesting to me is all the taxis lined up at the Pecsa gas station. Rows of taxis are waiting to be cleaned, checked and filled for business this morning. This city runs on taxis, buses and combis and very few families own cars. The other day I saw a family loading their dog in the back of a taxi, probably for a trip to the Veterinarian.


The Small Village of Taray


In Taray, and other smaller towns, they use mototaxis. It’s basically a motorcycle with a carriage attached to the back (see the photo). One trip from the town of Pisaq to the small village of Taray costs one sol per person, and the carriage holds up to three persons!


There is very little traffic between Pisaq and Taray, and when you consider 1 Snicker’s bar costs 3 soles, you realize they don’t make very much money. I’ve also learned that most US products are sold here at the same rate as they are in the states, so they aren’t very affordable…I felt a little guilty as I came to that realization while eating my Snicker’s bar, but I really miss chocolate from home!


Taray was a nice break from Cusco, because although I love the city, it was nice to breathe fresh air! I hiked 25 minutes into the mountain, and discovered a waterfall. Another 25 minute hike brought me to the top of a hill where I had a spectacular view of the Urubamba River winding its way through green, velvet, but rugged looking mountains and stretches of cornfields toward a snow capped mountain in the distance.


We also took two excursions during the week, one to visit the salt mines about an hour outside of Taray (and a good 40 minute hike!), and the other to visit the ruins at Pisaq. The ruins were incredible! They were once part of a large walled city high up in the mountains with huge terraces for farming. Below the city were fountains where the people had to bathe before entering and water still runs through them today. We explored the different rooms, now overgrown with vegetation, but the doorways, windows and cubby spaces, where they may have kept household items, idols or precious metals, are still intact. I climbed my way up the narrow staircases to the top, and breathed in the sight of the green valley and the amazing architecture they accomplished centuries ago.


It was about an hour and half walk back to Pisaq with more ruins of the city to explore and a path that led us through a small cave and by steep drop-offs to the bustling market below in the town’s main plaza. The market is a sea of blue and black tarps, under which you’ll find isles of artisans selling their hand woven crafts for ready-to-bargain prices, mostly to tourists, and all sorts of meats (most often the whole animal), fruits, vegetables, kitchen utensils, natural dyes and much more spread on tables or on the ground for regular shoppers. There are a couple of large markets in Cusco that I’d really like to visit before I leave, and it’s already my last week!

Crazy Roads And a baby on the way!

While we were in Taray there was another strike in Cuzco, and it was much stronger. It lasted for two days. All transportation stopped and most every store was closed in the nearby towns, including Pisaq and Taray. The roads and highways were completely blocked off with large boulders or tree stumps. As we were making our way back to Cusco through the maze of debris, we even came across an enormous wall of cement propped up in the middle of the road. In town there were still remnants of the strike; a large banner strung across the church in the plaza read, “Defending our Heritage.” During the two days of strike the airport was closed and all flights to and from Cusco were cancelled, because the people tried to storm the airport. The strike was stronger and in more areas outside Cusco, because farmers had joined to protest the falling prices for their products.


The worst part was when one of the teachers whose wife was expecting went into labor during the strike and there was no way for him to reach Cusco. He couldn’t sit and wait because the strike would not end until later that afternoon, so he began to walk. He walked the entire morning and afternoon, and we don’t know if he made it on time for the birth of his first child.

One more week in Cusco and then I’m off to Lima! Hopefully I’ll be able to post before then, but it’s been a crazy couple of weeks!

Katie